Initiated: December 11, 2017 Updated: April 12, 2018 A work-in-progress

Purpose of this group. To develop a special graciousness and openness about life and beliefs, this group is for the people who want to get along with believers and non-believers. Can we find a deeper truth that holds up some new insights that will embrace both sides of an equation by focusing on the nature of the relation. We’ll engage the edges of scientific research and its implications for our current theories about the universe and its origins, and about who we are and the meaning and value of life.

Overview: One of the best sources for a study of the relation between the finite and infinite are the sacred texts within our religious traditions. Many of us who grew up in the Christian tradition and like typical college students, we tend to reject the old to begin to self-actualize. Then we begin studying at the limits and boundaries of our knowledge and the challenges can become so daunting, they get left in those undergraduate and graduate classrooms. Personally I went out as far as I could on the edges of physics, working with Bob Cohen, the chairman of Boston University’s physics department, and then with physicists from around the world. I began discovering there are conceptual overlaps between all the departments within the university. The most extreme appeared to be those who were religious and those who demonized all religions.

What can be more different that the texts within The Bible, both Old Testament and the New Testament, and most texts within the scientific community, that is between Genesis 1 and John 1 and Stephen Hawking’s big bang theory. These sessions are designed to examine concepts within the sciences, philosophy, ethics, and mathematics to see how and where these overlap with concepts about eternity, infinity, light, and love. We start with an integrated view of the universe, and that begins to inform our understanding of the infinite and infinity.

Structure: This small group will have just nine gatherings, no longer than 90 minutes each. A goal for these sessions is to chart a way to empower people to create such a small group study. • The first two sessions. We will re-examine cosmological models of the universe (2 weeks). • The 3rd and 4th sessions: We will explore various ways of approaching an understanding of the finite-infinite relation. • The 5th and 6th sessions: We will explore a rather different understanding of light, a light that permeates and defines every notation and all of space and time. • The 7th and 8th sessions. We will explore the challenges to our understanding of basic concepts like space and time. Both become finite and transaction oriented. • The final session: Beyond the summaries, we will be searching for answers to the question, “What do we do now?”

Simple and small goals: The first goal is to open the door to a very simple orientation to science and faith that (1) works with science and mathematics and (2) allows for, and possibly informs, religious beliefs. The next goal is to explore the entry points between the finite and infinite. Another goal is to explore the physics, philosophy, and psychology of light. If we have even limited success, we’ll all begin to shrink space and time and open up an intimacy with the universe.

Within this post, we focus on a very simple model and nascent theory that has only been explored by a relatively small group of high school people and others within our extended community. We ask, “Is it possible that the universe began with an infinitesimally small length and time, and a relatively small charge and mass? Yes, we use those numbers defined by Max Planck in 1899, the Planck base units, to begin. In this model the universe is most simple and the opposite of infinitely hot and infinitely dense. Also, this structure becomes part of the ongoing structure of the universe. It supports the claim of Neil Turok and his colleagues that this universe is in a state of perpetually starting.

Our simple journey started in December 2011. In 2012 we began asking more-pointed questions about the first 67 of 202 notations. In 2013 we began our rather informal studies of the big bang theory. In 2014 we began to question it. Today, we are hoping the experts can tell us why using the powers of 2, doublings from the Planck scale to the Age of the Universe is not a proper outline for a model and theory. Having learned how idiosyncratic it is, we have many questions.

Might the mechanism for the doubling of a cell be a rather limited metaphor for the expansion of the universe? Could our universe be functionally based on the simplest mathematics, doubling both in size and in number up to this current notation and each step of the way? Is our universe, in fact, exponential (as in Euler’s equation), highly-ordered, and totally relational?

First principles. We postulate that the Planck scale is the unification of the four forces of nature with the unification of the Planck base unitswith those constants that define each unit, and that this unification, all defined as working ratios, is uniquely differentiated within each doubling throughout the entire 200+ steps from the first moment of creation to this moment, the current time and present day. It appears that all 202± steps are dynamic, actively participating in the current time and this definition of our universe. This postulation provides a working environment by which we hope to build a diversity of bridges from the Planck scale to all existing physical theories whereby each notation creates a very unique environment for predictive values.

We begin this study with the Planck Epoch, then attempt to justify reinterpreting the Grand Unification and Inflationary Epochs. The Electroweak Epoch begins the crossover which continues through the Quark Epoch and into the Hadron, Lepton and Electron Epochs. Thereafter, the QE will have so many bridges up from the Planck Epoch, it should become an expressway to the remaining epochs and all the useful definitions developed over the years within the big bang theory (hereinafter, abbreviated bbt).

The Planck base units. Further defined by the speed of light (or special relativity), the gravitational constant (or general relativity), the reduced Planck constant (or ħ or quantum mechanics), the Coulomb constant (or ε0 or electric charge or electromagnetism), and the Boltzmann constant (or kB or of temperature), all are bound within this Planck scale; and, herein it is proposed to be the foundations for a highly-ordered, totally-relational universe. The key to our model is multiplication by 2, starting with the Planck base units. A nexus of transformation between the finite and the infinite is defined by the crossing lines at “0” within the images on the right (just above Frank Wilczek).

We still have many questions. We have hopes and dreams. If the QE numbers can withstand the scrutiny of the academic and scientific communities, and we can begin to grasp the finite nature of space and time, and we can open a larger discussion about the nature of the finite-infinite relation, just maybe the bbt will recede and take a new role as an important chapter in academic as well as human history.

Those pivotal Planck calculations were done between 1899 and 1905 by Max Planck. In December 2011 we were just beginning to learn about Planck and his calculations. We sought out experts and quickly found the work of Prof. Dr. Frank Wilczek (MIT).

Frank Wilczek. With very few exceptions, it was not until Wilczek began writing a series of articles in 2001, Scaling Mt. Planck, (Physics Today), did anybody think those Planck numbers amounted to anything more than numerology. It would take another ten years before we would come along, naively doing our thing with our geometries and simple doublings.

Though most academics are familiar with Kees Boeke’s 1957 work (Cosmic View) using base-10, we were not. Most all our academic contacts made quick reference to it, yet they were still surprised to see our chart from the Planck Length to the Observable Universe. Some asked, “Why haven’t we’ve seen this before now?” The others just thought it was more quantum mysticism and numerology akin to Paul Dirac’s work with large numbers (link goes to a YouTube audio where Dirac explains it in his own words).

These 200+ doublings have at various points been called: (1) archetypes, (2) clusters, (3) containers, (4) domains, (5) groups, (6) layers, (7) notations, (8) ratios, (9) sets or (10) steps. We believe that each captures a face of the functionality within the notation. We recognize that these Planck base units can be computed in many different ways. Eventually, in order to refine results, the reduced Planck constant may be used. The various values of gravity (G) can be tested. Important at this time is consistency and equivalence of methodologies across all calculations within all 200+ notations. Our initial goal is to create a simple working model that outlines the general working parameters and boundary conditions to give us a platform. Now we begin looking at the key critical ratios throughout the model with a hope that we may discern natural groups and patterns that might help us to judge the veracity of the model itself.

Big-bang Theory Drowns Out Discussions

To learn as much as possible as quickly as possible, we’ve used Wikipedia’s summaries. Wikipedia’s goal is to represent the best current thinking of the thought leaders within the relevant scientific communities. The scientists who are most often quoted have lived within this theory throughout their professional careers. It is part of their intellectual being. Notwithstanding, we believe most all of their work can be absorbed within the QE. Questions are primarily raised about the Planck Epoch, the Grand Unification Epoch, the Inflationary Epoch and the Electroweak Epochs. Taken together, the first three “epochs” represent less than a fraction of a fraction of a second within the QE model. And, with just a few tweaks, we believe some of this work and all the work within the subsequent epochs can be readily integrated.

The writers within the Wikipedia community overlap with those within these scientific communities. Wikipedia, constantly in the process of refining their writing, provides several summaries of the History of the Universe. All work based on observations and measurements has a place within the QE model. Our guess is that the interpretation of those observations and measurements will become richer and more informative when the QE parameters and boundary conditions are engaged.

In 1970 there were truly competing theories about the beginning of the universe. By 1990 the bbt had become dominant. In 2011 our little group of high school geometry people began to explore the interior structures of the tetrahedron and octahedron. Then we found within our tilings and tessellations, and then all the simple doublings from the Planck base units to the Age of the Universe and to the Observable Universe. That continuum appeared so simple, we first engaged it as an excellent STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) tool. Yet, with further study and thought, it also seemed to challenge some of our basic commonsense assumptions about nature (the back story). As we studied our new little model, the bbt continued to solidify its dominance within the general culture at the same time we started to question it. We began to believe that the actual physics of the first moments of creation might be better defined by the simple mathematics of a quiet expansion, especially those first 67 notations. These 67 have never been recognized as such and certainly have not been discussed within academia. The great minds throughout the ages have been unaware of the 202 doublings, especially those first 67 steps. So mysterious are the 67, we began more actively to think about them and to make some postulations about their place and purpose.

This is our first posting about this quiet expansion. It is a result of our naive, informal, and often idiosyncratic studies of the Planck base units, simple doublings, and an inherent geometry assumed (hypothesized, hypostatized, and/or imputed) to be within every scale (doubling, layer, notation, step, etc) throughout the universe. We have moved slowly. Having backed into the Planck base units from our simple exercises in geometry class, we were not at all sure of ourselves. So, after observing our results for a couple of years, we began asking the question, “Could this be a more-simple, more-inclusive model of the universe than the big bang theory?” Because we only have the beginnings of an outline of a model, we continued our quest and continued to ask more questions:

Can all the results of the Lambda-CDM cosmological model and the Standard Model be found and supported within our highly-integrated UniverseView? Rather boldly we suspect that the answer is, “Yes.” And, we are bold-or-stupid enough to say that all physical measurements and observations within the Big Bang cosmology will be supported within the Quiet Expansion. If so, the net result is a much more simple model of the universe.

What: To challenge the bbt appears foolhardy at best. Yet, there are many, many reasons to challenge it, but most of all because (1) it is overly complex and confusing, (2) it is not very good philosophy, and (3) it is very poor psychology.

Why: The first three key parts of the bbt, involving substantially less than a trillionth of a second, are based on hunches and a need to shoehorn data to support the model.

Wikipedia says, “Planck scale is beyond current physical theories; it has no predictive value. The Planck epoch is assumed (or theorized) to have been dominated by quantum effects of gravity.”

We say that the Planck scale is the starting point for the initial six notations (de facto defined by the bbt) and that these notations are shared by everything, everywhere in the universe. Painfully aware of the limitations of our vocabulary, these first notations are considered to be archetypalforms, structure and substance.Archetypal is used in the sense of the original pattern or model by which all things of the same type are representations, the prototype, or a perfect example. For more, see all of 67 encapsulating notations (opens in a new window or tab).

Both models have made key assumptions. We believe the QE model is internally more consistent, imaginative, and stimulating.

This “Singularity” Is a Meeting Place of Converging Formulae, perhaps also known as a Modulus-or-Nexus of Transformation

The Planck scale is not beyond logic, numbers, and conceptual integrity. Homogeneity, isotropy and simple logic rule. Yet, within the Quiet Expansion (QE) model, we have applied that simple logic somewhat arbitrarily by placing Planck Temperature at the top of the scale, just beyond the 202nd notation and then dividing by 2, it goes down approaching Absolute Zero. We are ready to adjust it at any time when a more integrative logic prevails! Also, we are increasingly finding a simple relational logic between the four original Planck base units. Notwithstanding, this logic will be constantly revisited throughout our ever-so-slow development of QE model.

Within the QE model, the Planck Charge, a Coulombs value, is taken as given. Within the big bang theory (bbt), the Planck Charge is ignored. The bbt value is as large as possible. Their measurement is given in GeV units, one billion electron volts. Add 1016 zeroes and you have quite a charge.

To begin to understand all these numbers and their correlations, questions are asked, “Are these all non-repeating, never-ending numbers like Pi? Are all numbers that are non-repeating and never-ending somehow part of the infinite yet also the beginning of quantum mechanics?” The suggestion has been made that we carry out each of the Planck numbers at least 10 decimal places, and if need be, 100 decimal places, and possibly even 1000 decimal places, to see if patterns can be discerned. We recognize that relative to other units of measurement, such as the SI base quantities, the values of the Planck units are approximations mostly due to uncertainty in the value of the gravitational constant (G).

The exacting nature of the correlations between the multiples of the Planck base units is just being explored for the first time. But, to say the least, within the QE everything everywhere is related through simple mathematics.